I misunderstood you. Your first message of "this excellent program ..." I thought refered to FCP. The program you actually refered to cost $495 and I only want to convert 4 small, 20-second clips. Hardly worth $495. Is there no other way to do this?

Try installing p2 Cms from panasonic. There should be an mxf importer component for QuickTime that will be installed together with the software. You will then be able to import it into FCP. But I've only used that with panasonic p2, so try it and see if it works for your case. The audio may be an issue, though.

QuoteI misunderstood you. Your first message of "this excellent program ..." I thought refered to FCP. The program you actually refered to cost $495 and I only want to convert 4 small, 20-second clips. Hardly worth $495. Is there no other way to do this?

I second Ben's recommendation -- it's outstanding - saves hours of re-wrapping MFX files in Quicktime - you drag the files from your P2 or XDCAM disk -- and they work instantly -- well worth the price --

You may be able to convert your .mxf files in FCP Log and Transfer (File Menu -> "Log and Transfer" or "Shift-Command 8" ) if, as Strypes asked, you have the original folder structure from the camera. In my case, recent files from a Panasonic HVX-200 came with folders and a "lastclip.txt" as follows...

CONTENTS
AUDIO
CLIP
ICON
PROXY
VIDEO
VOICE
LASTCLIP.TXT

If these came in a single folder, keep them in there. If not, you may need to create one.

If you are missing any files or folders and you you prefer to keep the action in FCP and have the time, ask your client to resend you the files with all the information.

Use the Action Menu to choose your output file format. As you may know, Apple ProRes 422 plays nicely with FCP.

Here's a video tutorial on using Log and Transfer...

Keep in mind that you can keep logging while transfer occurs.

If this method isn't an option for you, one of these third-party apps may be the best solution, and, as Ben said, you can charge it to the client. Let them know why you had to do it.

I had a feeling that the problem was a corruption in FCP 6.5, but was not able to confirm this until yesterday, when I loaded FCP 7. After that, the HDV material came in just fine, so it was some kind of 6.5 problem I was having.

Well, in this case you need to make use of the professional third party converter. You can make use of professional and powerful MXF to FCP converter and this helps to convert MXF file format to supported FCP file format such as ProRes 422.. This is easy to use and this Mac MXF Converter also supports professional encoders like DNxHD, MPEG-2, Apple Intermediate Codec – guaranteeing high editing efficiency and quality when working with FCP, Adobe Premier, iMovie, Final Cut Express (FCE) or Avid Media Composer.